It was a mouth-watering season opener, one which we had all looked forward to for weeks, winning away at Chads was certainly a great way to kick-start your season. However, ending on the wrong side of the result certainly made it somewhat of an anti-climax.

A very strong first team had been strengthened even further in the off-season with the signing of Jason Bourne (under the alias of Jack Mason) and New-Fast Tom Lawson. We arrived full of confidence and an intense fielding session pre-game got the blood pumping.

The crafty tactics of the opposition started early. We found ourselves locked in the changing room without a door handle after the pre-game pep talk and even with Jason Bourne present, we had to resort to banging on the window until someone would open it from the outside...

Despite the big build up pre-game the first few overs certainly dampened spirits as the Chad's openers took advantage of the 5-yard boundary on one side. A run-rate of around 8 an over for the first few showed signs of how the day could be, but Tom Atkinson came back with a fantastic leg-stump yorker to remove the opener. A swooping Steven Gilks then double bluffed the other opener, knowing he had watched our fielding practice earlier - in which Gilks had hit the stump a total of zero times - a pick up and throw at one stump removed the bails with the batsmen yards out of his ground.

That brought Mitchell to the crease who played a very well paced innings, knocking the ball to all areas of the short boundary and some areas of the long boundary to reach 50. Aided by some biffing, the game started to get away from Headingley despite a tight spell from Gilks.

Atkinson and Lawson returned to pick up some late wickets in which both were successful. Although Fast Tom Lawson was dispatched for a six that ended up in Hyde Park.

Chad's finished on 241, which was very reachable with the wicket not misbehaving too much and a short boundary to take advantage of.

Rodgers and Dalby started out in typical style with nothing troubling them much and despite some very good line and lengths, Ted still put the opener into the BP garage. But the partnership was ended when both players edged behind early on. Jack Mason came in and looked very comfortable, knocking the ball around and keeping up with the run-rate. Aided by Baker, the scoreboard ticked along nicely as both players stroked the ball to all corners with ease.

Baker then ran himself out turning for a second on 28 and was followed back to the pavilion by Sandy Dutta for a Fros, with one that kept low from the spinner. Another run out occurred as Frosdick was left continuing his sprint back to the pavilion in a incident that did involve a 'sorry' on return. Mason continued to soldier on before a freak bat-pad incident resulted in the ball trickling onto his stumps.

A few lusty blows from Dave Crutchley (another into the BP garage) and a partnership between Atkinson and Gilks were not enough as Headingley fell 92 runs short of the target in what was a disappointing batting display.

Being outplayed in the first game of the season is certainly not what you want, but promising aspects can be taken from the game - Not a single dropped catch and no glaring misfields as well as two exciting signings to name a couple. It seems from here the only way is up and you can expect to gain a lot more fantasy points from members of 1st XI at Amaranth on Saturday.

Onwards and Upwards...